Years ago for Sunday, Oct 06, 2013

Oct. 3, 2013 at 5:03 a.m.

1913

Oct. 6 - Victoria Heights is beginning to assume a city-like appearance. There are now 18 cottages in the Heights and several under construction. On the south is the Johnson Addition and on the east side in North Heights. Those additions are also building up rapidly, giving Victoria a large suburban population.

Oct. 7 - The levee along the San Antonio River on the McFaddin ranch near Mariana broke this morning and has flooded the river bottom, doing much damage to cotton and corn.

Oct. 8 - Victoria was on the verge of a beer famine until the arrival of a special train from San Antonio at 8:30 o'clock last night with fifteen cars of beer. Five of the cars were left here and the others were conveyed to Port Lavaca, Goliad and other points in this territory.

Oct. 10 - Five fine cedar canoes owned by Frank V. Pancoast of the Frost National Bank of San Antonio were washed down the Guadalupe River from New Braunfels by the recent rise in the river. Mr. Pancoast will pay $5 reward per boat to the finder of any or all of them.

1938

Oct. 9 - A pre-development sale in Hillcrest Additon, which is being developed by C.H. Jackson, is in full swing with outstanding results already effective, according to the developer. The price for homesites includes all improvements, paving and curbing. A beautiful corner block has been reserved for beautification. A national prize-winning modern home, electrically equipped, at a cost of $6,000 will be built there. Prices for the lots are as low as $475.

Oct. 11 - The Victoria Stingarees are going to travel tonight to face the Spring Branch Bears, the seventh ranked team in the state. Jim Cleveland has been in charge of this week's Stingaree workouts in the absence of head Coach Tom Pruett, who has been ill this week with the flu. Other members of the varsity coaching staff are Larry Cummings and Jerry Salley.

1963

Oct. 8 - Bernhard Construction Co. of Victoria Monday was awarded the contract for the addition to Victoria High School with a low bid of $560,985. The two-story, air-conditioned project represents the largest single item in the Victoria Independent School District's $2 million school bond issue approved by voters last November.

1988

Oct. 12 - Sarah Weddington said abortion should be the individual's choice, not the government's. Phyllis Schlafly said only "the Creator" has the right to take a life.

Ms. Weddington, a liberal activist, debated Ms. Schlafly, a conservative spokeswoman, on the question of abortion and on other issues Tuesday night at Victoria College as part of the college's 1988-89 Lyceum Series.

It was the debaters' remarks on abortion that brought the biggest response from the packed audience.

Weddington, who was a leading attorney in the 1972 Roe vs. Wade case, which assured women the right to an abortion, outlined her reasons for supporting the "pro-choice" viewpoint.

"All abortions were illegal in Texas prior to 1973," she said, "except to protect the life of the mother."

She said this meant that rape, incest or fetal deformity were not acceptable reasons to have an abortion.

"It meant a woman who had six children and whose husband had deserted her had no legal choice about a pregnancy," Ms. Weddington said. "It meant that those people who practiced contraception conscientiously and had an unexpected pregnancy had no choice."

She said she supported legalized abortion because lots of Texas women were going to Mexico for illegal abortions and were coming back with perforations and infections and all types of problems.

"I felt it was not right for women to be going through that. I did not feel it was the state's right to say to a woman or her family: 'If you are pregnant, there is no answer but one, and we'll tell you what to do.'"

She drew applause when she said that every child should be a wanted child and that every mother should be a willing mother, but Ms. Schlafly received a rousing hand when she responded: "I hope your right to life doesn't depend on somebody else wanting you."

For her, she said, the abortion question comes down to a statement in the Declaration of Independence about life coming from a Creator and that each of us has an inalienable right to life.

"Once you give an individual the right to take away that life, you've changed the character of our society ... from the fundamental American doctrine that life comes to us from our creator, and He is the only one who has the right to take it away," Ms. Schlafly said.

She said the conservative idea is not to force women to have unwanted babies, but to preserve everyone's right to life.